NNALSA Moot Court Competition Officially Goes Virtual
STATEMENT FROM UND LAW NALSA:
The University of North Dakota was honored to be awarded the opportunity to host the 2021 National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition, and for many months we have been planning to welcome the nation’s NALSA students to Grand Forks, North Dakota in February.
UND NALSA and NNALSA have been diligently and actively following the news of Covid-19, and for months had jointly hoped that a medical solution would present itself making the in-person competition logistically possible. The safety of our competitors and judges must come before our universal desire to hold an in-person competition and so we announce today that the 2021 NNALSA Moot Court Competition will be virtual. The NNALSA Rules Committee and the University of North Dakota as host school feel that making this decision now, before the problem has been released or any teams have registered, is ultimately in the best interest of both participants and planners in order to provide stability and continuity to the competition.
Everyone is committed to holding an outstanding competition that makes the most of technology to support a moot court event that demands the rigor and professionalism equal to our in-person predecessors. The NNALSA Rules Committee is working to formulate rules for oral argument that will enable the virtual competition to take place seamlessly on February 26th and 27th. While we regret that we cannot welcome the teams to Grand Forks in person this year, it is our hope that the virtual competition will enable all competitors to come together for an amazing moot court competition. We hope to see everyone (virtually) in February!